Fly Tying Update - Summer

Now that summer is in full swing, the pace of tying and filling the boxes has slowed.  Spring cleaning, lawn mowing and other house projects have stolen much of the time I have to dedicate to tying.

But, I feel fairly good about what I have added to the fly box this winter and spring.  Thinking about where I will be fishing, I should have what I need to hook up with a few nice fish.  Obviously, we all really wish we could have few more patterns, colors or sizes.

The grey fly box has not really changed much since last fall as that box was mostly full with previously tied dries and nymphs.

My orange box, however, has filled in a bit, mainly with caddis patterns, both larva and dries.

First came the Green Rock Worms in a few different varieties and sizes,

then some Elk Hair Caddis,

a few Go 2 Caddis,

Puterbaugh Caddis in chartreuse and black,

and finally some Balloon Caddis in ginger and dark brown.

I even found an old stash of San Juan Worms.  Such a simple pattern, it seemed wrong not to have any with me, so I threw those in the box too.

I'd obviously like more patterns, sizes and colors, so will continue the tying to fill the empty space when I can.  I will probably try for a few more caddis ties first.  I have a few fishing days penciled in over the  next few weeks, so these flies should be going for some swims pretty soon.  I hope that your summers are going well and that you are getting out on the water.  Cheers.

Cutthroat from a Favorite Pool - Edit

Working upstream, the small canyon opens into a flat meadow full of willows and the creek meanders for the first time in about two miles.  This "pool", nothing more than the inside of a bend and a small undercut bank, is within the first few turns of the creek into the meadow.  It is also typically good for a fish or two, as it was this day.  I hope you enjoy this quick edit of a nice little cutthroat trout I caught fly fishing in Colorado last summer from one of my favorite pools.

 

It might be a long wait until after runoff to get here again, but I will be looking forward to fishing for and hopefully catching some of these pretty cutthroat trout this coming summer.

Birthday Fishing

I was excited to get out on the water for my Birthday this past week and felt like I should tie up something special. 

I saw a blog posting for the creek I was planning to fish where the author had success with the go2 caddis on a spring, Colorado day much like my Birthday.  A few of these go2 caddis were tied up to see if they could help me catch some Birthday fish.

They did not.  With higher than average flows, a cloudy day and cooler water temperatures, these flies seemed out of place with the only insect life observed throughout the day being a few small, grey mayflies.

Only a few rises were seen, but I was able to fool a brown trout early in the day on an elk hair caddis.

And then another later in the day on a guide's choice hare's ear from a deep slot in a small eddy.

Although the fishing was tough with many fly and weight changes, it was nice to get out, fish all my own flies and catch some Birthday fish.  I enjoyed my day and wish you a Happy Birthday as well whatever you choose to do and whenever it may be.  Cheers!!

Hiking and Fishing a High Country Lake - Shelf Lake, Colorado - Edit

The recent spring storm that dropped 14 inches here south of Denver has me thinking of spring and summer and returning for a hike to one of my favorite high country lakes for some fishing.  The hike in is just tough enough at about 3 miles and 1,900 feet of elevation gain to be a fun challenge with a few steeper sections.  The lake holds cutthroat trout and sits at an elevation of approximately 12,000 feet.

Working through the footage from last summer is a good way to get excited about the upcoming season.  Putting together this edit has me dreaming of blue skies, wildflowers and colorful cutthroat trout.  Below is a quick edit that shows why I love hiking to and fishing this lake.

The treadmill running and fly tying have already started in anticipation of this hike.  I bet you have some fishing plans and dreams for this summer as well.  Now is as good a time as ever to get ready before the season is upon us.  Happy spring everyone.

Fly Tying - Zen of the RS2

Walking into the local fly shop recently, the customer paying at the register looked familiar.

It was Rim Chung, inventor of the RS2, picking up some odds and ends, talking about TMC 101's and tying 100 RS2's without messing up a single tail.

I still remember tying my first RS2's.  They were terrible as I messed up the tails and just about everything else.  Bulky, misshapen bodies.  I didn't have any microfibbets so that was substituted for something else.  No CDC either.  Plain and simple, they were poor imitations of a classic South Platte fly.

After those early attempts, I knew for the time being I would be buying my RS2's.

But the fly has done well for me and I was already planning to try and tie some of these versatile patterns again.  This chance encounter with the fly's inventor spurred my motivation.  It started with the purchase of 25 Size 20 TMC 101 hooks, a package of microfibbets, some CDC puffs and some finer thread.

Much better than my initial attempts years ago, I quickly realized that these deceptively simple flies will still require close attention to detail and that I will need more practice to be consistent.

I started with the size 20's in both grey and black then, after the initial practice, downsized to some size 22's.

The RS2 can definitely be a fun, quick fly to tie, but the simplicity requires focus.  Tying this fly is a good reminder how important it is to perform each step of a fly as properly as possible before moving on to the next.  It reminds me of some Zen lesson I read in a book about Zen guitar years ago about focusing on the immediate task at hand and performing that task, purposefully, to the best of your ability.  Apparently, I am still learning that lesson.

If there is a Zen lesson to be learned from tying an RS2, then Rim Chung is the Zen master.  Watching him tie, he effortlessly creates his masterpieces focusing on the importance of applying each material just right.  I will try to focus on all aspects of the next set of flies I tie, but I've got a lot to learn and need a lot of practice to be as smooth as this fly tying (or Zen, if you prefer) master.

I wish you good luck in your fly tying efforts and am looking forward to using my flies out on the water the next chance I get.
 

Tying Resolution Update

January is already more than half done.  But, I have been making good progress on tying new flies for the empty fly box.

The new year started with expansion of the copper john collection with some size 16's in both red and gold.

And continued with the addition of some size 14 and 16 barr hare coppers.  These should help me be ready to imitate some of the lighter colored nymphs I see throughout the year.  The barr hare coppers use light hare's mask where the copper johns use the darker peacock.

The copper johns have started a nice shiny little family in the corner of the fly box.

I figured it was time to tackle some of my caddis patterns.  Before getting into the green rockworm patterns as planned, I tied up some mercury cased caddis in Size 16 and 18 from Pat Dorsey's tailwater book (some good flies in there).

Looking through my supplies, I realized I had everything I needed to tie up a few guide's choice hare's ear flies in size 16.  These were my first soft hackles and, although the hackle was a bit long, I was still pretty happy with how these came out.  I will definitely tie up a few more for the box.

There is still a lot of empty space even on this one side on the new box, so I will have to keep finding the time to get on the vise to get all the flies in need in there.

I hope your resolutions are holding up.  So far so good for me.  One day (or is it, one fly?) at a time.

Resolution Time - Happy New Years!

In 2016, I resolve that my fly fishing will be completely home-tied supported.

That's right I resolve to only fish flies that I have tied or flies that are given to me. 

The challenge to complete this resolution will be identifying now, in the cold, freezing days of this Denver winter, the patterns that will be needed for the warmer spring, summer and fall months and then tying them all.

As you can see, I have a decent start with one almost full fly box.  But as you can also see, I have the motivation of an almost completely empty fly box as well.

So far, I have completed various versions of xcaddis, adams, purple haze, humpy, griffith's gnat, midge, pheasant tail, hares ear, copper john and prince nymph patterns.

My winter ambition is to fill in as many patterns and sizes as possible starting with at least some elk hair caddis, green rockworm, rs-2 and wet fly patterns while expanding on the copper john and xcaddis patterns.

I am sure that others already do this and the suggestion that fishing only your own flies is a challenge or something to resolve to may not seem that significant, but I challenge myself for two reasons, 1) to prove to myself that I am crafty enough and dedicated enough to tie everything I will need and 2) to force myself to use my own flies as I will usually use a store bought fly before my home-tied flies because I don't want to lose them after my hard efforts.

So for now, it's back to the vise to fill that empty fly box space while thinking of this year's fishing.

Happy New Year and good luck with your resolutions whether they be fishing related or not.